Apron mechanism for lathes



A, H. INGLE AND W. EQWARUF.

APRON MECHANISM FOR LATHES.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE B. 191?.

Pmwmedl July WW.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 WWW '6. y

UNITED STATES PA-TENTOFFICE.

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APHUIN' MECHANISM: FOR

miners.

Toull whom may concern:

Be it knownthat we, An'rnun 17].. lnenn.

anih Warmer E. l Vann, citizens ot the United l ltates and bothresidents oi ltochester, in the countyot Monroe and; tltate of New York,have invented an Improvement.

in Apron l /lechanisins i'or Lathes, oi which the following description,1 in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specilication, likecharacters on the drawings representing like parts in each of theseveral views. i i

This invention relat tolathes and particularly to the apron mechanismthereot with the ieediiiig and operating connections A. prlncipal ob ectoi the carried thereby. invention is to provide means whereby in a typeoi. lathe adapted for eitherthread cutting,or lathe ope 'ationsinvolving the usual ieeds ot the tool carriage and. slides,

.it insured that the e'onnectioi'is ior thread cutting will not beoperative at the same.

tin'ie that the connections tor. the usual carriuge andishde feeds areoperative. A Il'll1 ll1l].tl'.()lJ]GClJ to pro vide improved operatingconnections from the lengthwise drive shaft or lead screw of a lathe tothe tool carriage andtool slide for operating the same either for arelatively slow teed movement or for a rapid traverse, or for manualadjustment at will. A lurtherobject is to provide an iiinprovedconstruction of automatic stop for thei'f i ieed movement operable atpredeten. mined adjustablepoints alongthe ways of the inachine. A stillfurther object is to provide an improved constructhni and coo erativearrangement of a divided or opening nut for controlling a thread cutting:leed along witlrshittable clutch devices for coi'itrolling powertransmission to effect the 'usualilathe feeds. The foregoing and otherobjects and -features of the invention will be better understood fromthe following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and a will be 'tliereatter pointed "out in theappended claims.

Referring to the drawings: 1

Figure 1 is a front side elevation of a lathe: constructed "inaccordance 1. with our invention; a i

l lig. 2 is an enlarged lengthwise vertical sectionadjacent the frontotthe apron showing iiiiterior parts in elevation;

Specification of Letters I Patei t.

mechanism to be described.

Fig. 3' is an enlarged horizontalsection on Fig. 5 is a transversesection on linen-5 of Figs. 2 and 3; and i i i v i Fig; (i is afragmentary elevation showin details 01 the clutch mechanism. i

A lathe bed is indicated at l with a head stock 2, carriage ways 3, anda lead screw l splined toi serve also as a (lri vesha'lt, all of whichmay be oi usual or any suitable construction. The tool carriage 5mounted on the ways 3 has a depei'iding apron (3 which inaccordance withour invention isextended at either side as seen at 7 to constitute arelatively wide support and housing for the The lead screw and driveshaft l has slidably keyedthereon a clutch huh ti eopiipped at each sidewith.

friction rings 9 adapted to he ex 'ianifled into operative engagementwith either oi the 0 positely facing bevel p1n1ons 10,11 which havesleeve hubs 12 through whichthe shaft sides adapted to expand one or theother of the friction ringswithin the pinions ll), ll accordingctoy itsposition. The pinions 1U, 11 are both, in driving engagement with abevel. pinion liiiixed on a short shaft 16 journaled in the apron andhaving righl therewith a longspur pinion 17 which is in drivingengagement with a large spur gear 18 .journaledon a shaft 19 and havinga long sleeve hub 20 integral or rigid therewith extending without theapron with a nut head 21 projecting in position to be engaged forsliding the gear 18 endwise. The shaft 19 has support at its inner endby being fixed as-at 22 in the apron while the sleeve hub 20 has aexternal bearing23 in anouter portionot the apron frame work. The gear18 which is thus continuously driven by the pinion 17 throughout itsrange of sliding ad justinent, is wwhenslid to an intermediate positionengaged with a pinion 2t fined on v a shaft 25 which journaled in theapron rat-sures July is, 1920. Application filed June 5, 191?.- SerialNo.1*?3,629; a s

sari-run n'. rusnnnnn WALLACE ii. want, or noc nnsrnn, new roan; earnwax-in ltlt 26 adapted to engage. the rack 27 of the lathe bed. Thistransmission from the large gear 18 to the pinion 24 thus effects arapid traverse of the carriage along the bed. For effecting a relativelyslow power feed movement of the carriage the gear 18 is slid fullyinward where an. internally toothed recess 28 is adapted to engage oneend of and drive,

a small wide faced pinion 29 loosely mount ed on' the shaft 19. Thepinion 29 drives a large gear 30 rigid with the pinion 24 and shaft 25,thus transmitting a relatively slow movement to the rack engaging pinion26.

For manually traversing the carriage a pinion 31 engageable with thegear 30 is fixed at the inner end of a shaft 32 journaled in the apronand having at its outer end an operating hand wheel 33. The gear 18 isadapted to occupy an intermediate inoperative position where it drivesneither the pinion 29 nor the pinion 24, it being 7 hand lever 46 may befixed to the shaft to which one of the bell crank levers 40' is secured,the shaft at the right side being projected forwardly for this purposeas indicated at 46 in Fig- 3. r

The sleeve 14 is operated to selectively engage either of the pinions10, 11 with the shaft 4 for producing the feed movement in eitherdirection desired by a shipper yoke 37 fixed on a rod 38 pivotallyconnected at 39 v a at each end to a depending portion of bell formed instop blocks 43 adjustably fixed to roller pins.

crank levers 40 fulcrumed at 41 and having their other arms extendinghorizontally outward in opposite directions, equipped with roller pins42 engageable with recesses the lathe bed. These recesses have conicalportions 44 facing toward the roller pins 42 and leading to acentralportion 45' with parallel sidesthat approximately fit said Thus whenclutch connections are made for either of'the pinions 10, 11 to impartfeed movement as'described, upon a predetermined travel of the carriagethe clutch is moved-to disconnect such feed and 1 held in anintermediate neutral position as soon as the'pin 42 engages the recessesof block 43' on the side toward which the car riage is moved. To adaptthe lathe for thread cutting or like uses, a divided or opening nut forengaging the screw shaft 4 is indicated at 47, this being composed oftwo halves connected for relative opening and closing movement upon thescrew shaft; this connection being shown as by pivoted links 48connected to be operated by an oscillating shaft 4!) journaled in theapron and having a projecting operating handle 50. In accordance withour invention this opening movement of the divided nut 44 is utilized tocontrol the operation of the clutch shifting rod 38 in a manner now tobe explained. For this purpose the upper half of said nut is formed witha radial recess having a relatively wide lower portion 51, with anintermediate portion 52 tapering at opposite sides inward to an uppercontracted recess portion 53. The recess portion is formed with parallelsides that approximately fit a roller 54 carried on a pin borne by thedepending arm of the adjacent bell crank lever 40 as indicated at 56,said roller and the recess of said nut being relatively so arranged thatas the roller occupies said contracted recess portion 53 the rod 38 isthereby held in position to lock the clutch sleeve 14 in intermediateneutral position.

It may now be understood that so long as the divided nut is open theclutch may be operated by shifting of rod 38 either automatically at theend of an operating movement of the carriage by engagement of one of theroller pins 42 with the recess 45, or manually by the handle 46. atwill, the roller pin 54 then operating in the wide lower ortion 51 ofthe nut recess. When the lathe is to be used for thread cutting or thelike, however, and the divided nut is therefore closed on to the leadscrew, should the clutch sleeve 14 have been left in either clutchengaging position, it is automatically shifted to intermediate neutralposition by the inclined sides 52 and held in such intermediate positionby the narrow portion 53 of the nut recess engaging the roll 54, thuslocking the clutch against any movement either manually or by the stops43. Thus the possibility of accident that might result from leaving bothfeeds engaged at once b a careless operator is entirely avoided. urtherby the provision of the conical recess formations 44 leading to thecontracted central portions 45 in the stops 43, it is insured that theclutch sleeve 14 will be shifted definitely to central position and heldtherein at the predetermined limit of carria e movement so thatpossibility of either 0 the feed operating pinions 10, 11 beingimproperly engaged is avoided. We are aware that the invention may beembodied in other specific forms as to various details thereof and wetherefore desire the present embodiment to be considered as illustrativeand not restrie tive, reference being had to the appended claims ratherthan to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of theinvention.

Lid

nee-acre ltlaving described our invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Let-- ters Patent is:

1. Apparatus of the kind described, comprising a tool carriage equippedwith a cross slide and with an apron, a power shaft extending lengthwiseof the lathe, and operating mechansim for moving said carriage and saidcross slide from said power shaft including a shiftable gear having gearelements cooperative therewith for moving said carriage at a relativelyslow rate for feeding or at a higher rate for power traverse, or formoving said cross feed, said shiftable gear being selectively engageablewith said gear elements in different shifted positions and being alsoshiftable to an inoperative position.

2. Apparatus of the kind described, comprising a lathe carriage, a powershaft extending lengthwise of the lathe, and operating mechanism formoving said carriage from said shaft, including a shiftable gear havinga connection cooperative therewith for effecting a relatively slow feedmovement, said connection consisting in a pinion adapted to fit into arecess in aside of said gear, and another gear connection selectivelyengageable with said shiftable gear for effecting a rapid traverse, saidgear being also shlftable to a thn'd inoperative position.

35. Apparatus of the kind described, comprising a lathe carriage,operating means therefor, a clutch and an opening nut selectivelyengageable with said operating means to move the carriage at differentrates, and a shifter for said clutch having a member associatedtherewith extended to cooperate with said nut, said nut having beveledfaces arranged to engage said mem her to move said clutch to inoperativeposition as said nut is moved to engaging position.

4t. Apparatus of the kind described, comprising a lathe carriageequipped with a depending apron, operating mechanism for said carriageincluding a clutch device and an opening nut selectively engageable tomove the carriage, and means including a shifter rod, and lever devicescooperative with said opening nut to shift said clutch device toinoperative position by the movement of said nut to engage the same,said nut having a recess formation with beveled sides adapted to act onsaid lever to shift the same for moving said clutch device toinoperative position as the nut is moved. to engaging position.

5. Apparatus of the kind described, comprising a tool carriage equippedwith an apron, a (fOllll'JlllGCl power shaft and lead screw extendinglengthwise of the lathe, operating connections including a clutch device for moving said tool carriage in either direction, a shifter rodfor said clutch dcvice, bell crank levers having oppositely extendingarms connected to said shifter rod, and an opening nut carried by saidapron to engage said lead screw for thread cutting and the like, saidopening nut having a formation carried thereby engageable with one ofsaid bell crank levers to hold it in position for locking said clutchdevice inoperative as said nut is closed on said lead screw andreleasing it to permit operation of said clutch device as said nut isopened,

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

ARTHUR H. lNGrlilil. WALLACE E. WARD.

